The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (190721).VOLUME XVIII. Later National Literature, Part III.

XXIV. Economists.

§ 8. Mathew Carey.

There is only one author of prominence during this period and he was in many respects an amateur economist whose chief reputation was earned in other fields. Mathew Carey (17601839) of Philadelphia diverted such leisure as he could take from his publishing business to a consideration of economic questions. In the earlier period he was interested in banking topics, as is shown by his Memorials Praying a Repeal or Suspension of the Law Annulling the Charter of the Bank (1786), his Letters to Adam Seybert on the Bank (1811), and his Essays on Banking (1816). In the meantime he had issued The Olive Branch (1814), devoted to some of the economic and political questions growing out of the war, which rapidly ran through many editions. Beginning in the twenties, however, he devoted most of his efforts to a defence of the protective system, as is evidenced by his Essays on Political Economy (1822), An Appeal to Common Sense (1823), The Crisis (1823), The Political Economist (1824), Prospects on and beyond the Rubicon (1830), and an Appeal to the Wealthy of the Land (1836). Carey was primarily a controversial pamphleteer, and his contributions, although exerting considerable influence at the time, were not of lasting note.